Telescopic trailer

ABSTRACT

The trailer consists of a base box-like portion with an open upper side and a top box-like portion slideable over the base portion with an open base so that the trailer can be collapsed for travel and storage or extended for use. A screw threaded shaft carries left and right hand threads thereon and a nut engages each of the portions of the shaft so that rotation of the shaft in one direction causes the nuts to move towards the center and in the other direction, to move towards the ends. Cables are attached to each nut, routed around pulleys and connected to the upper portion of the trailer body so that rotation of the shaft raises or lowers this portion relative to the base portion.

[ 51 May 22, 1973 [54] TELESCOPIC TRAILER [76] Inventor: Donat PierreTouchette, Box 250, St. Jean Baptiste, Manitoba, Canada [22] Filed: June10, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 151,763

Primary Examiner-Philip Goodman Attorneyl(ent & Ade

[57] ABSTRACT The trailer consists of a base box-like portion with anopen upper side and a top box-like portion slideable over the baseportion with an open base so that the trailer can be collapsed fortravel and storage or ex- "296/23 if ggl tended for use. A screwthreaded shaft carries left and [58] Fie'ld 27 right hand threadsthereon and a nut engages each of the ortions of the shaft so thatrotation of the shaft in one direction causes the nuts to move towardsthe [56] Ref fen S Ct d center and in the other direction, to movetowards the e Ce l e ends. Cables are attached to each nut, routedaround UNITED STATES pATENTS pulleys and connected to the upper portionof the trailer body so that rotation of the shaft raises or 3,588,1676/1971 Ratcllff r r .296/27 lowers hi portion relative to the baseportion 3,528,698 9/1970 Miller ..296/27 3 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures |oso |s (29 3 1 j\c,

as V 35 ldfl 3| 31 24 PATENTEB MAY 2 21975 SHEET 2 OF 3 FIG.'7

I NVENTOR. D P

, Am) 15mm /au warms- TELESCOPIC TRAILER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONMeans to raise and lower trailers from a usable position to a stored ortowing position are well known and usually these consist of drums aroundwhich cables are wound, said cables being routed to the upper portion ofthe trailer to raise and lower same. Disadvantages include the fact thatif the cables run over themselves while being wound upon the drums, theeffective length of cable varies thus causing the upper portion of thetrailer to jamb during the raising or lowering action. A furtherdisadvantage includes effective means for guiding the upper portion ofthe trailer upon the lower por' tion during the elevating action and insealing the two portions to prevent the ingress of dust, moisture or thelike.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is the purpose of the present invention toovercome these disadvantages and the principal object and essencethereof is to provide means to raise and lower the upper portion of thetrailer relative to the lower portion thereof which eliminates anychance of the cables varying in length during the raising and loweringaction.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of the characterherewithin described which includes a plurality of vertically situatedtracks on one portion of the body together with corresponding guidessecured to the other portion of the body thus ensuring effectivevertical movement of the two portions one with the other whicheliminates the tendency of the portions to jamb.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a device of thecharacter herewithin described which includes an efficient sealing meansbetween the two portions when either in the lowered position or in theraised position.

Yet a further object of the invention is to provide a device of thecharacter herewithin described which utilizes a worm gear principle sothat the upper portion of the trailer remains in any position withoutthe necessity of brakes thus eliminating any danger of the upper portiondescending out of control.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a device of thecharacter herewithin described which is simple in construction,economical in manufacture, and otherwise well suited to the purpose forwhich it is designed.

With the considerations and inventive objects herein set forth in view,and such other or further purposes, advantages or novel features as maybecome apparent from consideration of this disclosure and specification,the present invention consists of the inventive concept which iscomprised, embodied, embraced, or included in the method, process,construction, composition, arrangement or combination of parts, or newuse of any of the foregoing, herein exemplified in one or more specificembodiments of such concept, reference being had to the accompanyingFigures in which:

DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the trailer in the raisedposition.

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. I but showing the trailer in thelowered position.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the chassis per se showing the drivemechanism.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing part of theelevating mechanism with the pulleys and cables thereon.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of the upper pulley substantially along theline 5-5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of one of the cable adjustors with the upperportion of the casing removed, substantially along the line 6-6 of FIG.4.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary isometric view of a portion of one of the guidesengaged within one of the tracks.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary isometric view of one inside corner of one ofthe walls of the upper body portion.

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view of the trailer showing the relationshipbetween the upper and lower body portions.

FIG. 10 is a schematic wiring diagram of the electric circuitry foroperating the raising and lowering mechanism.

FIG. 11 is a top plan view of the raising and lowering mechanism withthe cover of the casing removed for clarity.

FIG. 12 is a section substantially along the line 12-12 of FIG. 11.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the different figures.

PRELIMINARY DESCRIPTION The trailer 10 includes a chassis 11 mountedupon a wheel assembly 12 and includes a hitch 13.

A base or lower body portion 14 is mounted upon the chassis and an upperbody portion 15 slideably engages over the lower body portion so that itcan be raised and lowered as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Means 16 areprovided within the chassis for raising and lowering the upper bodyportion 15 relative to the lower body portion 14.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The chassis 11 is substantially convention inconstruction inasmuch as it consists of a longitudinal members l7,transverse members 18, outrigger members 19 and side longitudinalmembers 20 all of which are connected together to form a relativelyrigid box-like structure shown in FIG. 3.

A rear bumper 21 is secured across the rear of the chassis and aconventional hitch component 22 extends forwardly of the chassis andcarries the conventional propane gas tank 23, raising and loweringmechanism 24 and hitching mechanism 25.

The lower or base body portion 14 includes a floor 26 together with foursides 27 extending upwardly therefrom to form a box-like structurehaving an open upper side 28.

This base body portion is of course mounted upon the chassis in theconventional way.

The upper body portion 15 also consists of four sides 29 and a roof 30all of which are preferably made of reinforced glassfiber, thetechniques of which are conventional. The dimensions of the upper bodyportion 15 are slightly larger than the dimensions of the lower or basebody portion 14 so that the upper body portion may engage over the basebody portion as clearly shown in the drawings and may be raised to theposition shown in FIG. 1 or lowered to the position shown in FIG. 2.

In this connection a plurality of vertical tracks 31 are secured to thewalls or sides of one of the portions and guides 32 are secured to thewalls or sides of the other of the portions in a position so that theguides engage the tracks as shown in FIG. 7.

In the embodiment illustrated, the tracks 31 are secured vertically tothe outer sides of the walls or sides 27 of the base portion and detailsof these tracks are shown in FIG. 7.

They consist of an elongated planar base portion 33 having inturnedspaced flanges 34 formed thereon. The guides 32 in the embodimentillustrated, are secured adjacent the lower corners 35 of the sides 29and upon the inner surfaces thereof as shown in FIG. 8. These guidesconsist of an attaching portion 36 and outturned flange portions 37spaced from the attaching portion by means of walls 38 clearly shown inFIGS. 7 and 8 and the out-turned flanges engage between flanges 34 andthe planar portion 33 of the tracks as clearly shown.

By providing a plurality of guides and tracks around the perimeter ofthe walls of the trailer, vertical movement of the upper body portionrelative to the lower body portion 14, is assured with the minimumdanger of the upper portion tipping relative to the lower portion thuscausing the portions to jamb during the upper and lower movementthereof.

The means 16 for raising and lowering the upper body portion relative tothe lower body portion consist of a channel or casing 39 spanning thechassis adjacent one end thereof and being secured thereto.

A shaft 40 is journalled within the casing and within pillow blockbearings 41 and this shaft is provided with a right hand thread 42 uponone half there of and a left hand thread 43 upon the other half thereof.

The shaft extends beyond the chassis 11 and is supported within abracket 44, said extension being shaped to receive a detachable handcrank 45 for rotating the shaft.

A nut component 46 consists of a block 47 preferably made of brass orthe like centrally apertured as at 48 and internally screw threaded.

One block is screw threaded to engage the right hand thread 42 and theother block is screw threaded to engage the other or left hand threads43.

When mounted upon the shaft 40, it will be appreciated that rotation ofthe shaft in one direction will cause the blocks to move towards thecenter thereof and rotation in the other direction will causethe blocksor nut components to move away from one another and towards the ends ofthe shaft. Rotation of the blocks is prevented by the casing 39.

Pairs of cables 49A and 49B are secured by the ends thereof to each ofthe blocks or nut components, one pair of cables 49A being secured toone block and the other pair of components 498 being secured to theother block.

The blocks are apertured on each side of the central aperture 49 asindicated by reference characters 50 and 51 and a strip 52 is securedacross the base of the block 47 with the ends extending beyond the sidesof the block as clearly shown in FIG. 11.

Each cable engages through an aperture 53 within the ends of the strip52, then passes through the block via aperture 51 and back through theblock via aperture 50 and a set screw 54 engaging through the base ofthe block, clamps the end of the cable within aper ture 50.

In FIG. 10, the cables are shown threaded through the apertures 52, 51and but they have not been pulled tight so that this threading isclearly visible.

Each cable after it leaves the side of the block extends towards thesides of the chassis and is routed around a set of pulleys to beconnected by the other ends thereof through an apertured anchor (seeFIG. 8) situated upon the underside of the walls of the upper bodyportion and adjacent each corner thereof.

The sets of pulleys are identical and each include a grooved pulley 56mounted for rotation in a horizontal plane adjacent the ends of thecasing 39.

After passing around pulleys 56, the cable extends around a pulleyassembly collectively designated 57 and situated in a vertical planeadjacent the outer transverse frame members 18A. The cable then extendsinwardly around a further grooved pulley 58 journalled for rotation in avertical plane adjacent the lower end of vertical channels 59 whichextend upwardly from and form part of the walls 27 of the lower bodyportion, there being one such member adjacent each corner of the lowerbody portion.

A further grooved pulley 60 is journalled for rotation within the upperend of these vertical members 59 and FIG. 5 shows this upper end cutaway as at 61 to enable the cable to extend downwardly after passingaround pulley 60, to be connected to the aforementioned anchor 55adjacent each lowermost corner of the walls 29 of the upper bodyportion.

Referring back to the pulley assembly 57, this provides an adjustmentwithin limits for each cable. It consists of a casing 62 carrying thepulley 57 for rotation upon a spindle 63. A screw threaded adjustor 64extends through the wall 65 of the chassis frame and screw threadablyengages one end 66 of the casing 62 so that rotation of the adjustor endshifts the casing as indicated by double headed arrow 67 and gives alength adjustment within limits to each individual cable. In thisconnection an inspection plate 68 is provided over the side chassismember 20 to provide access to this pulley assembly 57.

In operation, rotation of shaft 40 by means of hand crank 45 causes thenut components 46 to move towards one another or away from one anotherthus moving the pairs of cables 49A and 49B and hence raising orlowering the upper body portion 15 relative to the lower body portion 14and it will be appreciated that if rotation of the hand crank ceases,then the movement of the upper body portion also ceases due to the wormgearing connection between shaft 40 and the nut components 46.

It will also be appreciated that the length of the four cables can bemaintained relatively equal thus giving an even pull to all four cornersof the upper body portion 15 and hence eliminating any tendency forjambing.

Means are provided to seal the upper body portion 15 to the lower bodyportion 14 to prevent the ingress of dust or moisture and reference toFIGS. 8 and 9 will show details of this. Extending perimetrically aroundthe inner surface of the walls or sides 29 of the upper body portion 15is a flexible sealing strip 69 consisting preferably of a form of hairyfiber 70 mounted upon a foam strip 71 which is adhesively securedparallel to the lower perimetrical edge 72 of the walls or sides 29 andthis resilient seal slideably engages the outer sur' face of the wall 27of the lower body portion 14.

A perimetrically extending laterally situated strip of felt or the like73 is secured to the upper edge of the walls or sides 27 of the lowerbody portion 14 and extends laterally outwardly to slideably engage theinner surface of the walls 29 of the outer section. An aluminum trimstrip or cap 74 engages over this felt strip and secures same to theupper edge of the walls 27.

Both the resilient strip 70 and the felt strip 73 engage the surfaces ofthe walls at all times and as the upper body portion 15 is raised to itsuppermost extent, the resilient strip 70 approaches the felt strip 73 sothat when in the raised position double protection is given at thisrather vulnerable junction between the two sections.

If desired, the trailer may be raised and lowered electrically ratherthan by the hand crank 45. In this connection a reversible electricmotor 75 is mounted adjacent the extended end of the shaft 40 and gear76 may engage gear 77 as clearly shown in FIG. 10. Alternatively a chainmay engage around sprockets connecting the shaft of the motor with shaft40, it being understood that the necessary cover (not illustrated) willbe provided for protection purposes. A switch engaging member 78 extendsupwardly from strip 52 secured to block 47 and this member is adapted toengage limit switches 79 and 80 situated within casing 39 as shown inFIG. 10.

A three-pole operating switch 81 is situated near the door of thetrailer on the upper body portion 15 as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 10.

The wiring diagram is shown schematically in FIG. and includes the 12volt battery as a source of power indicated by reference character 82.Solenoid switches 83 and 84 are associated with the motor 75 and thewiring between the components is conventional and is clearly shown inFIG. 10.

Limit switches 79 and 80 are normally closed so that switch 81, whenheld in one direction will start the motor and cause shaft 40 to rotate.As the nut component 46 reaches the end of the shaft 40, assuming itmoves from the position shown in FIG. 10 to towards the limit switch 80,portion 78 hits limit switch 80 and cuts off power to the motor thusstopping the rotation of the shaft. Movement of switch 81 in theopposite direction completes the circuit and the nut component 46 movesoutwardly upon shaft 40 to the position shown in FIG. 10 whereupon ittrips limit switch 79 once again stopping the motor. By positioning thelimit switches, the upper body portion 15 can be raised and loweredreadily and easily. By limiting the length of screw threaded portions 42and 43 upon shaft 40, manual operation of the shaft 40 cannot move theupper body portion 15 beyond the desired amount, particularly in theupward direction.

Various modifications can be made within the scope of the inventiveconcept which is herein disclosed and- /or claimed.

What I claim as my invention is:

I. In a telescopic trailer, the combination of a wheeled chassis, alower body portion mounted on said chassis, an upper body portionslidably telescoped over the lower body portion for raising and loweringmovement, and screw-actuated cable means for raising and lowering saidupper body portion, said means comprising an elongated housing providedin said chassis, a shaft with oppositely screw'threaded portionsrotatably journalled longitudinally in said housing, a pair ofoppositely screw-threaded nuts engaging the respective oppositelyscrew-threaded portions of said shaft, said nuts being slidable butnon-rotatable in said housing, a pair of cables connected at one endthereof to each of said nuts, guide pulleys provided in said chassis andadjacent the top of said lower body portion, said cables passing aroundsaid guide pulleys and being connected at their other end to said upperbody portion whereby the latter may be raised or lowered by rotation ofsaid shaft, the device being characterized by provision of means forindividually adjusting the effective length of each of said cablesindependently of the others, each of said adjusting means comprising anadjustment block slidably but non-rotatably mounted in said chassis, arotatable pulley on said block, and an adjusting screw rotatablyjournalled in the chassis and screwthreadedly engaging said blockwhereby the latter may be slid back and forth when the screw is rotated,the as sociated cable being looped around said pulley on said block andextending therefrom in the direction of sliding movement of the block,whereby the effective length of the cable may be adjusted by varying theposition of the block within the limits of its sliding movement.

2. The device as defined in claim 1 together with an electric motoroperatively connected to said shaft for rotating the same selectively inopposite directions, and a pair of limit switches in normally closedcircuit with said motor, said switches being mounted in said housing inthe path of movement of one of said nuts and engageable thereby at theopposite ends of its travel, whereby to interrupt the circuit to saidmotor when said upper body portion reaches its fully raised or fullylowered position.

3. The device as defined in claim 1 together with sealing means betweensaid upper and lower body portions, said sealing means comprising alower sealing strip provided at the inside adjacent the bottom of theupper body portion in engagement with the outside of the lower bodyportion, and an upper sealing strip provided at the outside adjacent thetop of the lower body portion in engagement with the inside of the upperbody portion, said lower and upper sealing strips engaging each otherwhen the upper body portion is in its fully raised position.

1. In a telescopic trailer, the combination of a wheeled chassis, alower body portion mounted on said chassis, an upper body portionslidably telescoped over the lower body portion for raising and loweringmovement, and screw-actuated cable means for raising and lowering saidupper body portion, said means comprising an elongated housing providedin said chassis, a shaft with oppositely screw-threaded portionsrotatably journalled longitudinally in said housing, a pair ofoppositely screwthreaded nuts engaging the respective oppositelyscrew-threaded portions of said shaft, said nuts being slidable butnonrotatable in said housing, a pair of cables connected at one endthereof to each of said nuts, guide pulleys provided in said chassis andadjacent the top of said lower body portion, said cables passing aroundsaid guide pulleys and being connected at their other end to said upperbody portion whereby the latter may be raised or lowered by rotation ofsaid shaft, the device being characterized by provision of means forindividually adjusting the effective length of each of said cablesindependently of the others, each of said adjusting means comprising anadjustment block slidably but non-rotatably mounted in said chassis, arotatable pulley on said block, and an adjusting screw rotatablyjournalled in the chassis and screw-threadedly engaging said blockwhereby the latter may be slid back and forth when the screw is rotated,the associated cable being looped around said pulley on said block andextending therefrom in the direction of sliding movement of the block,whereby the effective length of the cable may be adjusted by varying theposition of the block within the limits of its sliding movement.
 2. Thedevice as defined in claim 1 together with an electric motor operativelyconnected to said shaft for rotating the same selectively in oppositedirections, and a pair of limit switches in normally closed circuit withsaid motor, said switches being mounted in said housing in the path ofmovement of one of said nuts and engageable thereby at the opposite endsof its travel, whereby to interrupt the circuit to said motor when saidupper body portion reaches its fully raised or fully lowered position.3. The device as defined in claim 1 together with sealing means betweensaid upper and lower body portions, said sealing means comprising alower sealing strip provided at the inside adjacent the bottom of theupper body portion in engagement with the outside of the lower bodyportion, and an upper sealing strip provided at the outside adjacent thetop of the lower body portion in engagement with the inside of the upperbody portion, said lower and upper sealing strips engaging each otherwhen the upper body portion is in its fully raised position.